Master of Arts (M.A.) in Metaphysics

Metaphysics investigates the beliefs, assumptions and theories that underpin our understanding of reality. In examining and testing our assumptions and beliefs, a study of metaphysics guides us to a better understanding of how the world is really constituted. Such a study will inform and will possibly change how we stand to ourselves, to other people, and to the reality that brought us into existence and sustains us. It is unlikely that we will develop an unshakable confidence in answers to questions about the existence of God, what constitutes personal identity, whether fatalism is true (and so forth) – but despite our uncertainties regarding these things, our efforts to understand them will contribute in some small measure (and hopefully not so small) to a growth in wisdom.

Objectives:

This program has several related aims:

• to provide candidates with a comprehensive grounding in the main topic areas of Metaphysics, by imparting to candidates a good sense of the nature and extent of the subject matter of Metaphysics, its methodology, the relation between its main topic areas, and their relation to other philosophical issues
• by introducing candidates to seminal works, both classic and contemporary, and developing the necessary reasoning and analytical skills for accomplishing all this.

The graduate program in Metaphysics is suitable for students who intend to develop professional careers in a wide range of settings.

Entry into the MA program requires a recognised undergraduate degree (preferably in Philosophy or another of the Humanities). Beyond the general requirements of Warnborough, no other general pre-requisites are required.

This program is offered via distance learning. Individual programs can be structured in modular formats; can be project/research directed, or can combine both options. At the graduate level, students are expected to be highly self-motivated and capable of independent work.

Students may be exempt from certain modules in the curriculum, based on prior courses taken, and/or demonstrated knowledge of philosophy and related disciplines.

Students can work with their mentor to create new modules and expand current modules into customised programs, suited to their interests and capabilities. Read the complete module descriptions for information as well as ideas.

60 credits, including a Master’s Thesis, will be required for the MA degree. In accordance with Warnborough regulations, MA candidates in Metaphysics will need to fulfil the following requirements:

PART ONE: SURVEY OF PRIMARY SOURCES

MET500: Existence (3 credits)
There is a universe that exists, and we exist in it. But why are there physically existing things at all? Why does anything whatsoever exist in the world? Why is there something rather than nothing? What sort of account will prove satisfying? What sorts of reasons offered as an explanation for the existence of things will count?

MET505: Truth (3 credits)
What makes a statement true? The four historically important theories of truth: the correspondence theory, the pragmatist theory, the coherence theory, and the deflationary theory. Tarski’s semantic conception of truth.

MET510: Identity (3 credits)
In world of constant change, what makes a thing that changes always the same thing? How do we identify the one thing that is supposed to change? How can the changing thing not be what it was before, and be what it was? Plato’s solution. Aristotle’s view. The identity of persons: the views of Locke, Hume, Perry, Parfit, and Nagel.

MET515: Philosophy of Mind (3 credits)
The nature of mind and the mind–body problem. Is the mind an aspect of the body? Or does it exist as a distinct mental substance? How does such a substance causally interact with the body? Can mental phenomena be reduced to physical phenomena? The intentionality of mental states; the qualitative features of sensations; the subjectivity of consciousness. Theories of mind: nonreductionism, identity theories, functionalism, and eliminative materialism.

MET520: Free: Will and Determinism (3 credits)
Do agents have free will, or are all actions really determined? Is it ever within our power to do anything other than what we in fact do? If God has foreknowledge of what we will do, how can we be free, when the time comes, to do this thing or not do it? Causal determinism. Responsibility and ethical issues.

MET625: God (3 credits)
Can the existence of God be proved? Aquinas’ Five Ways. Descartes’ versions of the cosmological argument and the ontological argument. The principle of sufficient reason – how do we explain the existence of contingent things? Can the existence of evil prove that God does not exist? Cosmological theory and contingency.

MET630: Knowing Reality (3 credits)
What is the character of the knowledge that we profess to have of reality? Empiricist views: the subjective idealism of Berkeley; Humes’ phenomenalism. American pragmatism: the views of Charles Sanders Peirce. The functionalist account of Wilfred Sellars. Quine’s ‘ontological relativity’.

MET635: Secondary Qualities (3 credits)
Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities. The notion of perceiver-dependent properties. Are colours of objects simply the physical properties of surfaces? Armstrong’s appeal to ‘normal observers’ and ‘normal conditions’. Boghossian and Velleman’s objections to physicalism and dispositionalism. Hardin’s notion that physical objects have no colours.

MET640: Time (3 credits)
What is time? Does time 'exist'? Does the past and the future exist? What do we mean by the ‘passage of time’? Does time really flow? Is there really a movement of events from the future to the present, and from the present to the past? McTaggart on why time is not real. Mellor on the tenseless theory of time. Perry on knowledge and our conscious experience of time.

MET645: Events (3 credits)
What sorts of things are events? The notion that events are property instances (‘tropes’). The individuation of events. Distinguishing events from facts. Differentiating events from other tropes. Is there a dichotomy between events and states? The views of Davidson, Kim, and Lombard.

PART TWO: RESEARCH PROJECT

Master’s Thesis (30 credits)
Students will work with their mentor to establish the parameters for their independent research, the findings and conclusions of which will be the subject of their thesis. The Master’s Thesis will be completed according to the guidelines and parameters set by Warnborough College.

Students can complete the program in four terms or less. (A term is four months.) Depending upon exemptions, performance and the workload, it may take more or less time. Students should regard four terms as the average length of the program. Students may shorten that timetable by arranging for high-intensity customised research projects.

Upon satisfactory completion of all requirements, students will receive the Master of Arts in Philosophy of Metaphysics degree. There are no other exit points in the program. Students will receive credit for modules they have successfully completed.

Students pursue the MA in Metaphysics via distance learning. Graduate students are expected to be resourceful, show initiative, and be able to work independently.

Students are required to obtain texts needed for successful completion of program projects, through libraries, on-line resources and/or bookstores.

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Note: All fees listed here refer to tuition only. It does not include ancillary expenses such as required materials (see above), textbooks, internet connections, postage, telephone calls, insurance and printing.

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View admissions information.
Note: Please specify if you wish to do the program by RESEARCH or by INSTRUCTION (modular).

Program Director: Professor Keith Seddon
Professor Seddon’s area of expertise is Philosophy in general, but specifically Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysics, Ancient Philosophy, Stoic Ethics, Classical Chinese Philosophy (including Taoism), and Applied Philosophy. Until 1996 he was the Director of Studies and editor of The Philosopher for the Philosophical Society of England. He has taught a wide range of Liberal Arts topics in further education colleges and correspondence colleges. Since 1987 he has been especially active mentoring students via distance learning at a number of institutions including Warnborough College and others. Professor Seddon has had his work published in books, and has published numerous articles and reviews in several periodicals including: Practical
Philosophy, the Volga Journal of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Philosophy Now, and The Philosopher.

Professor Seddon serves on the International Editorial Board of Practical Philosophy and is a Fellow of the Philosophical Society of England.

Please contact Professor Seddon at k.h.s@btinternet.com or admissions@warnborough.edu